The first time I heard Magdalena Lewy-Boulet’s name was at the Falmouth Road Race this past August. I was standing in my corral behind the elite runners, and I asked my friend (a former co-director of the race) who he thought was going to win the women’s race. He said that he thought Magdalena Lewy-Boulet was going to take first and informed me that she was another mother runner.
Fast forward to the end of the race, and Lewy-Boulet did in fact finish in first place in the women’s field. At 38, she was the first female finisher and the first American woman to cross the line. Her time was 36:58 for the 7.1 mile course! She is only the second American woman to win the race in the past 17 years. When you look at her personal records for the 5K, 10K and marathon: 15:14, 31:48, and 2:26, it is unbelievable that four years ago she was unsponsored and paying her own way to the Olympic Marathon Trials!
Lewy-Boulet was born in Poland and became a U.S. citizen on September 11, 2001. In addition to running professionally, Magdalena has also coached the cross country team at her alma mater, University of California- Berkeley. She is under the coaching guidance of legendary distance running coach, Jack Daniels.
I visited Magdalena’s blog on the Bay Area Track Club website and found this wonderful post – Older, Wiser, Stronger, & Faster. In her post, she imparts many words of wisdom that are important to all runners, not just mother runners! That fact that she continues to set new personal records as she ages gives me the inspiration and hope to set new goals for myself. I didn’t start running competitively until recently (I had done very few races in my running career). Watching Magdalena’s progress makes me believe that I can continue to set PRs well into the future.
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